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StarkMallard
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Everything posted by StarkMallard
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Jodi Jones? I know Malta play him up front sometimes.
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It was a club where the members played among themselves @CliftonMagpie, inter-club games were still years away. They'd arrange games between themselves such as married v single men. And it was all strictly amateur, Notts included. Only in the early 1880s did clubs such as Bolton and Blackburn start paying some players, sparking an outcry that money was ruining the game. Some of this was elitism - in the middle of the 19th century, ordinary working folk didn't have the time or energy to dedicate to a football club, so members tended to be very well-to-do. When the first players started getting paid, this opened the game up to working class people as they no longer had to earn a living outside of football. It was no longer a posh man's game. The FA finally allowed clubs to turn professional in 1885. It's fascinating to look back but it's really a world away from the game we know today, with clubs springing up all over the place and many disappearing again. The English Game on Netflix covers this era, it's really interesting stuff!
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Privatisation was a disaster and should be reversed ASAP. More regulation is all well and good, but households will end up footing the cost. It's time this artifical market ended. This is good stuff from Mr Sharkey. I'm not surprised he's angry - apparently he gets water leaks right through the night.
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There's decent evidence that the club was founded in 1862, while the company was founded in 1864. You could go further back though. There are letterheads from the nineteenth century giving 1860 as the foundation date. The club's roots go back to the late 1850s when a group of army volunteers incorporated football into their training - these were the same people who founded a football club a few years later. And now here we are!
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I'm going to be pedantic and point out that we weren't the first professional football club - the game was strictly amateur at the time and the Lancashire clubs probably started (illegally) paying their players first. We're the oldest football club that is currently professional. Now I've got that out of the way, I've had a look at the Notts history book by Darrin Foss. We played our first match against outside opposition against Trent Valley on 8 December 1864 after the meeting at the George Hotel - it was 20 a side and finished goalless, but the opposition may have been made up of Notts members too. In which case our first match against an outside club would have been on 2 January 1865 against Sheffield FC at the Meadows Cricket Ground. It was played under Nottingham rules with 18 a side, and of course we lost. The Sheffield club minutes for that game are the earliest record of us being referred to as Notts County. I can highly recommend his book (Notts County FC and the Birth of Modern Football) if you like this kind of stuff!
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No. The current arrangement - with the land being owned by the council, the Haydn Green estate owning the lease and renting it to the club for 99 years - gives the club a lot of protection. I trust the Reedtz brothers, but they won't own the club forever; if the club owns the ground, that could make us a target for property developers one day after they leave. I doubt it would happen anyway as it isn't worth anyone's while. As the club pays such a low rent, it wouldn't make sense to buy the land outright as the investment possibly wouldn't pay off in our lifetime. Secondly, the land has a covenant stating it can only be used for sports, so there would be no other feasible buyer. If you consider the club pays rent of (I recall) 10,000 pounds per season in L2, the purchase price would be in the low six figures. Is it worth the council's while to sell, and would it be worth the owners' while to buy? Probably not, and we don't even know whether the leasehold would allow it.
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I think it's changed them. It is so quick and easy to post on Facebook, so a lot of ranty and moany comments posted a couple of minutes after the final whistle tend to get posted there rather than here. This is more of a place to write your thoughts once the dust has settled a bit.
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It's not just about PON, it's about Notts and football in general. Football is a routine, and for many people Covid interrupted that routine and they haven't been able to get back into it since. Or it gave them the chance to discover new hobbies or change their priorities in life. They might even just have drifted away when we got relegated to the tinpot league. And if you spend less time thinking about Notts, you're less likely to be involved in a fans' community like PON. It's nothing to be taken personally, it's just the nature of it. If we keep the community lively and provide lots of things to talk about, it'll invite more people to dip into it again if they fancy
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Well, that game was very "League Two" - scrappy, lots of misplaced passes and some nervy defending from both teams. We badly needed a Palmer in there in the first half to help us play it out. But the way we took control in the second half and came back showed real character. Really chuffed that Morias scored and JOB finally got the chance to show off his tattoo! It always is. We're a newly promoted team, it was highly unlikely we were going to sail through the division. Some people need to get a grip. Was he the one who elbowed Macari(?) in the face off the ball? I've seen players get a straight red for that.
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Five thousand, thanks. It’s been a few years in the making, but this weekend Notts County finally play their 5,000th Football League match away to Gillingham. It will be our 888th fourth division match. We’ve spent the largest share of our Football League existence in the third division (1528 matches), with 1516 matches played in the second division (now the Championship) and 1068 in the top flight, albeit mostly before the war. We are the eighth club to reach the landmark, after Preston, Burnley, Wolves, Derby, Bolton, West Brom and Blackburn. Blackburn played their 5000th league game last month, and we could overtake them and West Brom in terms of League games if either win promotion to the Premier League. So how did things work out in our previous landmark games? Let’s have a trip back in time! 4000th game 10 January 1998: Rochdale 1-2 Notts County (Jones, Robinson); att. 2387 This was a sixth straight win on the way to winning the fourth division under Sam Allardyce, leaving us seven points clear at the top of the division. Shaun Derry started for Notts; he would leave the club a few weeks later. We were the first club to play 4000 league matches, with number 4000 originally scheduled to be played at home to Hull City and special match programmes printed. Unfortunately it was postponed, so we reached the landmark at Spotland instead. Key figures: Darren Ward, Ian Hendon, Gary Jones UK prime minister: Tony Blair (Lab) UK number one: Various Artists – Perfect Day 3000th game 25 March 1975: Notts County 2-2 Nottingham Forest (Scanlon, Richardson (OG)9; att. 20,303 We played our nearest and dearest in the second division for our 3000th. Notts, managed by Jimmy Sirrel, were comfortably in mid-table at the time and might have had a stab at promotion but for a leaky defence. The visitors were perched precariously above the relegation zone and had just appointed a new manager called Brian. We eventually finished 14th, just a couple of places and points higher than Forest. Key figures: David Needham, Bill Brindley, Ian Scanlon UK prime minister: Harold Wilson (Lab) UK number one: Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby 2000th game 13 December 1952: Notts County 5-0 Blackburn Rovers (Ken McPherson (4), Edwards); att. 10,222 We celebrated our 2000th league game in style with this win in the second division. We started the game comfortably in mid-table while Blackburn were struggling, but over the course of the season Notts found wins hard to come by and eventually finished 19th, just three points clear of the relegation zone. In the early 1950s, the club’s envisaged march to the top flight had stalled, and Tommy Lawton had left the club the previous season. We had another five seasons in the second division, mostly fighting relegation, but by the end of the decade we had dropped into the fourth division for the first time. Key figures: Leon Leuty, Cecil McCormack, Tommy Deans UK prime minister: Winston Churchill (Con) UK number one: Al Martino – Here in my Heart (this was the very first UK number one!) 1000th game 25 February 1922: West Ham United 2-1 Notts County (Cook); att. 20,000 Notts started this Division Two match perched handily behind the promotion places, but following this defeat we won only one more match all season and finished in a disappointing 13th, at the time our lowest ever league position. Better times were to come though: we finished top the following season, heralding a three-year stint in the top flight. Our goalkeeper at this time was one Albert Iremonger. Key figures: Albert Iremonger, Billy Flint, Harold Hill UK prime minister: David Lloyd George (Lib) Thanks go to the brilliant Up The Maggies site; I wouldn’t have been able to work out our 1000th and 2000th games without it! Additionally, there's the EFL website featuring their exclusive "5000 club". Disclaimer: I’m rubbish at maths. https://carouseldrivefootballs.on.drv.tw/utm/maggies00.html https://www.efl.com/about-the-efl/the-5000-club/ Thank you for taking the time to read this article. The Pride of Nottingham very much values your time visiting our site and, we are very appreciated for being here to share the journey of Notts County with you! -
Fine lines. The visitors really couldn't have complained if we'd gone in ahead at half time - if Langstaff or Jones had scored, we'd have won and everyone would've been singing their praises. Uncharacteristically for us, we didn't take our chances. Wrexham are always good for a goal or two, and so we got punished. A few things did annoy me. In the second half we took a succession of short corners that we ended up passing back to our keeper. And, like against Mansfield, the concession of one (unlucky) goal was quickly followed by another and we suddenly had a mountain to climb. The collapses are becoming a bit of a habit and are causing us to lose games we could have drawn. The lack of cover is also a concern. All the same, the performance wasn't bad and the team don't deserve some of the criticism they're getting. We've come through a difficult month with ten points from six games. If we're serious about maintaining a promotion challenge, we shouldn't be making a habit of getting beaten at home by our rivals. All the same, we don't need to turn into a long ball team, we shouldn't sack our recruitment team and we didn't have a disastrous transfer window. Honestly, the way some of our fans react to a minor setback, it makes me wonder how they manage to navigate through life. To sum up, we just have to dust ourselves down and go again.
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Ah, this is one of those strange little clubs that come up from non-league. Although apparently they were in the League before, back when Steps were in the charts. In this fixture last season, we beat them by starving them of the ball and imposing our game on them. If we do that again, they'll struggle to cope. On the other hand, if we're cautious and reactive and allow them to fire throw-ins and set pieces into our box, it'll be a long afternoon. Obviously Cameron and McGoldrick will be back. I have a feeling Macari will retain his place too. If anyone reading this hasn't got a ticket, I've just had an email saying that some more have just been released. I'd get booked quick. Mad that I'm even typing this, we used to be happy to get 6000
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Brilliant win, and a great way to bounce back. Gillingham did have some dangerous moments on the break (and we rode our luck a couple of times), but they really didn't look special and we deserved our win. Just 23 more points and we're staying up! Kudos to every Notts fan who braved the weather in that open away end.
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Thanks for your feedback everyone! Personally I didn't go to any of these. I would have been at the 4000th game at home to Hull if it hadn't been postponed. I think the match programmes were sold in the club shop, I might have one knocking around. Were any of you there in 1998, 1975 or even 1952? It took more than one attempt ????
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Right, so we've scored 49 goals between us and we're letting in 2 goals a game on average. It's going to be 0-0, isn't it? I'm a bit nervous as this'll be the biggest test we've had so far, and on the back of a chastening experience in Essex. But it's up to the players to pick themselves up, cut out the silly errors and show their quality. They deserve our faith and support; let's get behind them and NOT jump on their backs. We are a newly promoted team and were always bound to be taught a lesson every now and then. Hopefully we can take Saturday's on board quickly.
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This is very true. Also, our recruitment has consistently focussed on bringing in defenders who are comfortable on the ball and can contribute to build-up play ever since the takeover, and overall it's served us well. Our defenders play a lot of football and play high up the pitch. We concede goals as a result, but it's also one of the reasons why we're so creative and difficult to play against. That said, the gifts are frustrating and left us chasing the game yesterday. In particular, Baldwin's decision making seems poor this season and he could maybe benefit from a spell on the bench. Unfortunately we clearly didn't land our defensive targets in the last transfer window and LW doesn't seem to trust the loanees, so that leaves us looking a bit thin. We're still top of the table, but we haven't played any of the more fancied teams yet so some realism is required. All the same, you can only beat what's in front of you and 20 points in 10 games is a great start to life back in L2. On another note, did anyone else notice the kit clash? I like us having blue away kits, but it's always a problem when visiting teams that play in blue and white stripes. We used to have a third kit for cases like this. The similar colour of the shorts and socks made things worse.
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My thoughts entirely, they very nearly beat Mansfield too. Maybe they're a side that raise their game for the better opposition? We should hopefully have enough, but we can't afford to let our standards slip in this league.
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I didn't watch this one as I was on my way back from holiday, but luckily the flight was delayed just enough for me to find out the result! The last time Notts were playing while I was on a plane, we'd bee relegated by the time I landed, so this was a marked improvement I'm glad you were all entertained with lots of goals, although LW would probably have preferred the 2-0. The major wobble in the second half will give him food for thought, but I blame the expert summariser on the PON Facebook page who praised the Notts defence just before the first FGR goal went in! We got away with it, we're top of the league and we play fantastic football in front of big crowds every week. Times are good!
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It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything. Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding. Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?
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We shouldn't be too unhappy with the draw really, I think that's one of the tougher trips we'll have. All the same, it's a bit of a shame we switched into game management mode after equalising when we seemed to have them on the ropes. Maybe I'm still spoilt from last season! Langstaff was unlucky not to score, the first time he had a leg stuck out looking for contact, but it was a hard cross and spun over. But apart from those we struggled to bring him into the game as much as in previous weeks. In the first half in particular we seemed to miss McGoldrick and struggled to keep the ball in their third for any length of time. All the same, I think we just about shaded the first half and were certainly the better side in the second, but the hosts had their moments too. We can't really quibble. Lovely finish from Cameron, a poor first touch took him into a perfect shooting position and you just knew it was heading in straight away. It was an odd one to watch on the stream - the Notts fans were all tucked away in the top tier and fans were only sprinkled around elsewhere. It looked like we were playing in an empty stadium, there were shades of the Reynolds Arena in Darlington. To those of you who were there, do you think the Franchise really had 5300 there? As a Notts fan I know what a three-quarters empty stadium looks like, and it doesn't look like that.
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Get the kids in if at all possible. It'll be good to give Randall, Morias and the loanees some game time to get them a bit sharper for when we need them. But that's the only thing this game is good for - it's a slap in the face to all teams in L1 and L2 to have to play against B teams and I couldn't care less if we go out. This is one stupid competition I didn't miss.
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That's a great win for us. A crucial moment was when we were 2-1 up and Stone got just enough of a hand on a Stanley shot to divert it wide. Moments later, Palmer slotted a wonderful ball to Langstaff and it's 3-1. So it's definitely one of those that could have gone either way, but that doesn't mean we were lucky. When you have Langstaff, a Jones or a Palmer in your team, those crucial moments on which a game can turn are more likely to go in your favour. Just look at our second goal - 99 times out of a hundred, a striker receiving the ball with his back to goal and with so many red shirts around him is going nowhere. I agree with John Coleman that the yellow cards are getting silly - I think it was Brindley who got booked waiting for the ball boy to give him the ball. And the "yellow for kicking the ball away" rule is being used to penalise players who have a shot a fraction of a second after the whistle has gone. That's not dissent, that's muscle memory! It might not be saying much, but Accrington were the best team I've seen us play so far - they were physical, but they could also bring the ball down a play a bit too. Wouldn't be surprised to see them near the top at the end of the season.
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This is an interesting point @liampie. I would wager that most people on here aren't nearly as critical or analytical when they're actually at a match. This is a place where we can mull over and analyse what we've seen, but as the match is usually long finished by the time most people log in to PON, the spontaneous excitement of a match doesn't really come across. It might do when there are live updates, but most people's attention is elsewhere. I think that's reasonable. What is less reasonable is just being an absolute misery as @Chris describes, but that's people for you.
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Very impressive performance, for large parts of it we made Tranmere look like a Sunday League team. The way we passed it around them was breathtaking at times and we really should have scored more than two. Then came the substitutions. I've said before, just because you can use five subs, it doesn't mean you should. Replacing half your outfield players stops any momentum in its tracks, then you have the situation we found ourselves in yesterday with Scott coming off injured. That's incredibly unlucky and could have happened in the three subs era as well, but with five substitutions available and in the position we were in it just seems so unnecessary to take that risk. But we've got the three points we deserved and it's hopefully a lesson learned.
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Apparently more than 2,000 away tickets have already been sold so it'll be a belting atmosphere. I'd expect Doncaster to be a bit more ambitious than Morecambe were. They've had a bad start but got a draw against Mansfield, so that's a sign of life. Wanted: an early Notts goal to calm the nerves, then we'll be swinging.
